A number of different systems have been developed for conditioning raw water. In one type of conditioner the refiner is more or less permanently fixed in position and the refining material, such as zeolite, is regenerated by introducing a brine solution into the refiner which is passed through the spent refining material.
In contrast to a fixed refiner system, in an exchange system the entire contents of the refiner are removed and replaced with new or regenerated refining material. In one, less extensively used form of exchange system, bags of refining material are deposited into a fixed refining chamber and the bag and its contents removed when the material is spent. In the more common type of exchange system the entire tank of spent refining material is removed and replaced with a new tank of new or regenerated material.
The exchange type systems are more common in domestic use, since the size of the treatment tank in the larger commercial systems usually render their removal and replacement impractical. With the bag type exchange system the removal and replacement of the bags has proven difficult since they are awkward to handle when being placed into and removed from the tank and they are apt to contain water which will spill during the replacement process.
On the other hand, while the fixed type of refiner system avoids many of the drawbacks of exchange type systems, there are obviously periods of nonuse while the refining material is being regenerated, which may be somewhat extended, and as a result, inconvenient or in many cases, unacceptable.
Thus, a need exists for a refining system in which down time is kept to a minimum and yet the size of the refiner is large enough to hold the relatively large volume of refining material necessary for most commercial installations.